Isaiah 4: The Branch of the LORD
Seven women and one man, a purified remnant, and the cloud and fire over Zion
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach" (4:1). The war of 3:25 has left so few men that women will plead for marriage on any terms. Many Bibles print this verse as the end of chapter 3.
"In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy" (vv. 2–3).
"When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence (chuppah). And there shall be a tabernacle (sukkah) for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge" (vv. 4–6).
| Verses | What it says | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| 4:1 | Seven women, one man: "let us be called by your name" | War's aftermath; the verse ends chapter 3 in content. |
| 4:2 | The branch (tsemach) of the LORD beautiful; the fruit of the land glorious for the survivors | Tsemach: "growth"; later a messianic title (Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). |
| 4:3 | Those left in Zion called holy, written for life | Remnant theology. |
| 4:4 | Washing away filth and bloodshed by a spirit of judgment and burning | Purification through judgment. |
| 4:5–6 | Cloud by day, fire by night over Zion; a canopy and a booth for shade and refuge | Exodus imagery (Exodus 13:21–22); chuppah (canopy) and sukkah (booth). |
Canopy and booth
Chuppah (v. 5) later became the Jewish word for the wedding canopy (Joel 2:16; Psalm 19:5), and sukkah (v. 6) is the booth of the Feast of Tabernacles. In Isaiah they picture God's protection over Zion like the wilderness cloud and the shelter of a harvest booth.
"The branch of the LORD": vegetation or messiah?
In context (v. 2), "the branch of the LORD" parallels "the fruit of the land": it may mean the land's renewed growth given by God. Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15 speak of a righteous "Branch" (tsemach) raised for David, and Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12 make "the Branch" a title for a coming leader. The Targum of Isaiah reads 4:2 as "the messiah of the LORD." The library's Greek has a different sentence altogether ("God will shine in counsel with glory on the earth"), with no branch, and the Vulgate has germen Domini, "the seed/sprout of the Lord." The Great Isaiah Scroll matches the Masoretic Text and adds "and Judah" at the end. So the messianic reading is old (Targum) but not the only sense of the Hebrew.
What the evidence shows
- The Targum of Isaiah reads the "branch of the LORD" (4:2) as the messiah. C check on the Targum text.
- "Branch" in Isaiah 4:2 must refer to the messiah. The parallel "fruit of the land" supports an agricultural sense.
- The library's Greek of 4:2 has no "branch."Source: The site's library: Westminster Leningrad Codex, KJV, Clementine Vulgate, Giguet's French of the Greek
- The Great Isaiah Scroll adds "and Judah" at the end of 4:2. In the transcription; image check open.Source: 1QIsa-a and 1QIsa-b: M. Abegg's transcription, ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5 (CC BY-NC 4.0), read by the site's script; images: Israel Museum / Leon Levy Digital Library; edition: DJD XXXII (2010)
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageIsaiah 4:2: "The branch of the LORD""In that day shall the branch (tsemach) of the LORD be beautiful and glorious." The Hebrew is about growth; the Targum reads "the messiah of the LORD"; the library's Greek has a completely different sentence ("God will shine in counsel with glory"); the Vulgate has germen Domini.More from this lesson
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- Pillar of cloud by day, fire by night.
- Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15A righteous Branch for David.
- Zechariah 3:8; 6:12"My servant the BRANCH."
- God's tabernacle with humanity: later echo.